Afro-gate: Revenge of the Offenderati? Dopers of color, please weigh in...

Great Debates
1

And when I say “Dopers of Color,” I don’t mean The Grapist.

Our story thus far:

The University of Central Florida basketball team had their most successful season ever this year. yay! The team was led by forward Dexter Lyons, who sports a 70’s-looking afro. The 'fro was a hit with the fans, so much so that the school had a Dexter Lyons Afro Night: everyone got free afro wigs, which students wore at home games the rest of the season. Fine and good you say.

After the team was bounced from the NCAA tournament, the board of trustees was meeting and decided to pass a resolution commending the team. To commemorate the occasion, the president of the University, and the chairman of the Trustees (both white), put on a pair of Dexter Lyons Afro wigs. The picture was on the front page of the school paper this past Monday.

Yeah, you can guess the rest. Other than the photo, the student newspaper’s coverage of the Trustees meeting barely mentioned it, focusing on the rest of the meeting’s events. But within a couple of days there was chatter that an old white guy wearing an afro wig was wrong. Let me rephrase that; I didn’t hear anyone upset, but I heard people saying other people might be upset. By Tuesday night, the president had issued an apology.

To back up a bit: the president asked the coach if the stunt would be OK, and the coach said the players would love it. Lyons was at the meeting, laughed, posed for pictures with Hitt, and later said “It’s a big deal for me to get the president of this university to put on an Afro wig … That’s an honor.”

(This article on the story, has the photo in question, but requires free registration, as will all the rest.)

So, the person in question wasn’t offended. None of the black student organizations have said anything that I’m aware of. And in my (admittedly small) sampling of black students, they don’t see a problem. The only people complaining seem to be faculty. One professor in particular – who is white – sent a letter to the Orlando Sentinel, even after Hitt apologized. He says that the claim that they wore the wigs was a “rationalization” and that

In contra:

My view on Afrogate is that it was ill-advised … but only because a University President in 2004 has to take into consideration that some of his faculty are mewling whiners making careers out being offended on someone else’s behalf. I find the claim that a white man in an afro wig must inevitably suggest the “legacy of minstrelsy and blackface humor” to be asinine. To steal from Orwell, it is one of those things so stupid that only an intellectual could believe it; and I find the claim by Kevin Meehan that he speaks for “many people” dubious; I think six or eight other humanities professors is more likely.

However: I am open to the possibility that I am the one being ignorant here. Educated dopers of color, what say you? Is this over the line? Is it even close? Should we take the silence (so far, and AFAIK) of black student groups as an indication that this is not offensive? Or is it really plausible that many are offended but wary of saying so. Would you be offended?
You whiteys can join in the conversation too, I guess.
Final bits of background: UCF is a very large (41k), mostly commuter school. It is 71% white, 8% black, 11% hispanic and AFAIK, there are not any racial tensions on campus. Hitt is, on the whole, not popular with students or faculty for other reasons including, ironically enough, being too aloof and uninvolved.

2

Furt,

I don’t think your use of the term “whitey,” as well as your permission to let us join in this discussion, is up to your usual level of intelligent dialog.

At any rate, I basically concur with your opinion. Race is a sensitive issue in the US, to say the least, and it’s best not to press any buttons that need not be pressed. Although the wig-wearing students and bigwigs (pun intended) probably meant no harm or offense, I would have dispensed with wigs entirely.

In other words, it was needless risk-taking on their part.

That said, it sounds like the yelpers are just problem-mongering. The intelligent argument to make is not that wrong has been done, but that to prevent misunderstandings and problems in the future, such risks should henceforth be avoided.

3

Humor, dude. I “granted permission” exactly because I know the inherent absurdity of saying “I want responses from X.”

And I hope we haven’t reached the absurd point where a white man calling his fellow causasians “whiteys” counts as hate speech.

If we have, I suppose the mods can clip it and insert “epithet deleted” (looks upwards to sky).

4

Well, I’m a doper of “another color” (hey, we just replaced blacks as the largest minority in the US - does that mean people have to be terrified of insulting us now? :-p), if that counts… I don’t see a damned thing wrong with it. It was used as a symbol of the player, not the race. If he condoned its usage, that’s cool.

Now, if he had used it randomly to imitate a stereotypical black guy, I can see how people would take issue with it - but he was using it to celebrate, in part (I mean, him and the team, but he is the standout, I guess), the success of a young man with a distinctive appearance.

Not really different than all those people getting Beckham-style haircuts when he was uber popular. If I recall correctly, a lot of people in Korea and Japan did that. Was that racist in any way? I certainly don’t think so.

On the other hand, is there anything wrong with a kid dressing up as a native American for Halloween? Most people would say no. A kid dressing up as a black guy, however…

It is funny how social guilt works. Terrified of saying anything wrong about the black man, don’t really give a crap about the natives, Hispanics, or Asians, and hell, even the European subcultures. I mean, look at the joke of a holiday called Cinco de Mayo. It is an insult to what is really Mexican, but no one really gives a fark. It isn’t even the right season for “Mexican independence day,” but everyone is happy to wear stupid hats, drink Corona, and eat some Tex-Mex with some extra salsa. Funnily enough, most Mexicans don’t really give a damn.

…

OK, that was a tangent. But you get the idea. I think the white man be afraid of his own shadow! :wink:

5

Though I agree with you for the most part, this comparison is rather off. People would have a problem if a kid dressed up as a stereotype of a modern indian (drunkeness is the only stereotype for them I can think of but I am sure there are others) just as they would have a problem if they dressed up as a stereotype of a modern American black guy. Likewise, most people would not have a problem with a kid dressing up in a “tribal” costume (college age girls are particularly hot like this), or for that matter a generic rapper (baggy pants, gold chains, etc.). The problem is when you take stereotypes of modern people.

6

The attacker got his symbolism hopelessly confused. In fact, ass-backwards. Doesn’t he remember the 1960s and '70s? Has he forgotten all about Black Power? How can the afro hairstyle symbolize “minstrelsy and blackface humor?” Hel-LO. The afro was the symbol of Black Power, the defiant rejection of former black humorous stereotypes. The afro was worn with black pride as the total antithesis of the old stereotypes of African-Americans as figures of fun. Doesn’t anybody remember Angela Davis?

7

All the logic and the facts are on one side. On the other side is a chance for the race pimps to have a hissy fit.

Guess which side will win?
Here is the part where they made a mistake:

No one who is manufacturing offense in this is going to be put off by apologizing. They aren’t listening; they don’t want to listen. The administrators should have said, “We were honoring one of our players. If you can’t see that, it is your loss, and none of our concern.” And then ignored it from then on.

Pretending the other side had any reason for being upset just panders to them. If you let people cry “Wolf!” and don’t call them on it, you just get more of it.

And then genuine incidents of racism will get dismissed, because people will assume it is another example of baseless whining.

Pity.

Regards,
Shodan

8

That was the 1960s and '70s. This is the… um, '00s. The social symbol of the afro has changed completely, and has entered popular culture, even for white folk. That happens with symbology over time. Also see the American victory sign changing into the peace sign. It simply doesn’t mean the same thing. To say it does and always should is, I think, rather silly. It may still be associated strongly with “black,” but it doesn’t associate with “black power” anymore.

9

Paleface jumping in here-

Jeez, how embarrassing for the university. The dumbass prof, I mean, not the wig stunts.

I have never liked political correctness because of the tendency of a few to find fault anywhere, whether or not it actually exists. I like it even less now.

Damn shame that the university issued an apology, since they didn’t do anything wrong. It sets a bad example.

10

Oh, that’s just great. Now the American people are supposed to have all the historical perspective of a mayfly. Zagadka, please present evidence to back up your claim that the Afro has been converted from a symbol of Black Power and defiant black pride to a humorous Stepin Fetchit degradation of the African-American people. When did this alleged transformation occur? You’ve never heard of Angela Davis, have you? If you knew who she was, you would never be able to look at the afro as something trivial. As for myself, I was glad to hear that someone was actually wearing the afro again with black pride, since it had gone out of fashion so many years ago… and straightened hair once again became the fashion… and those days of the Civil Rights movement and Black Power, the days of Bobby Seale and Eldridge Cleaver and Angela Davis had been forgotten along with the afro, relegated to archives gathering dust, with a few old newsreels of Martin Luther King brought out and dusted off every February for Black History Month observances. I hate to sound like an old fogey, but it makes me sad to see the important strides toward liberation made in the 1960s so ignored by the youth of today.

11

I’m quite familiar with the civil rights movement, thanks much - though perhaps you would like to venture into a college campus or high school these days? Please present evidence that it has anything to do with Black Power more than it is a fashion statement. There may be a group of dedicated revolutionaries who view it as such still, but that is hardly the case for the mass population.

An example is, well, THIS POST. The young man who started the riot with his alternative hair style hardly considered it a point of Black Power. He thought it was pretty funny to see the college kids and the president of the university appear in afros. None of the kids on campus really gave a damn. I mean, that was 40 years ago. While white boys wearing afros may not have the same kickass style as a black person and are generally laughed at, I’ve seen it done, and most black people I know found it funny. I certainly wouldn’t wear an afro, mostly because I don’t have the cajones or the hair to, but to each his own. Hell, afros are even made fun of in movies. By black people.

Maybe you should go on a lecture circuit to revive Black Power? I think the message is lost on this generation.

/doesn’t see anyone getting all pissed when anyone slicks their hair and wears bandanas and wife beaters

12

That’s a very good point, Jomo… minstrels didn’t have afros. I guess his point is that it was a white man using a faux-black appearance for laughs.

And I don’t think Zagadka was saying the afro “has been converted from a symbol of Black Power and defiant black pride to a humorous Stepin Fetchit degradation” so much as he was saying that, right or wrong, it just means nothing to kids nowadays; and I think that goes back to what Lapchick said in the OP. On the one hand, you’d want kids, white and black, to be aware of history; on the other it’s kind of nice to realize that their exerience growing up in integrated schools was very different from some preceding generations.

Or to put it another way; on Monday we’ll be discussing this picture (warning, disturbing image) as I do most every semester. I have them do the math and realize that the little girls watching the lynching are their grandmothers’ age, and that this was the Florida grew up in. It’s a shame that they never thought about it that way … but also it’s good that it is unthinkable.

13

I am with Jomo Mojo on this one.

The white professor wrote:

The fact that today’s generation finds Afros funny looking and laughable has absolutely nothing to do with historical accuracy or, in this professor’s case, inaccuracy.

Minstrels and other black-faced performers lost their place in the entertainment industry as the Civil Rights movement gained steam in the early 1950’s – before Afros came in style. Blacks were tired of being portrayed as watermelon-eating, banjo-playing Toms and white people were becoming more sensitive to the ridiculousness of such a stereotype. The Afro as a hairstyle was not yet on the scene in the States.

Nor is the Afro associated with the violence of the Jim Crow era. That violence was against blacks. Jim Crow laws were designed to keep people of color down.

When young people (especially) in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s began to take pride in their heritage, there were two unmistakeable symbols: the clinched uplifted black fist and the Afro. Anyone who says that it is a leftover from the Jim Crow era is historically inaccurate.

It does not speak well of certain members of the younger generation when they correct those of us who were there.

It seems that the crowd that was most insulted by the gesture of wearing Afro wigs misunderstands their historical significance. They were a positive symbol – not a negative one.

14

I probably should add that revolutionaries such as Dr. Angela Davis weren’t terribly concerned about “fashion statements.” The young people who held them as heroes copied their styles and Afros did become fashionable.

Afros were adopted by black revolutionaries because it was a style more naturally suited for African hair. It did not copy traditionally white styles. And that was something new – and a matter of pride.

Dr. Angela Davis and friends, 1974: http://womenshistory.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://blackhistory.eb.com/micro/161/4.html

15

The thing that I really can’t grasp, regardless of whether or not it’s generally appropriate for some old cracker to wear an Afro wig, is this:

Were there protests after Afro Night? Was it only inappropriate because the two guys in question were old, or what?

Also, I’m a member of a younger generation, wasn’t alive for any part of the '70’s, and even I know that the Afro isn’t a symbol of anything demeaning to blacks.

16

Then why are you so quick to speak for this younger generation? No one ever stated that “today’s generation finds afros funny looking and laughable.” They merely are no longer a proud declaration of black power. They are a fashion. I’m sorry you refuse to accept that, but them’s the rubs of what happens when you use symbology - it can turn against you. Black kids today, by whatever faults of history, simply don’t feel the need for the same movement. While I’m sure large groups of them (and other ethnicities) respect what the 'fro and the black power movement meant, it is not used in the same way today. Watch MTV for an hour, and you’ll see an afro or two, and they don’t have much to do with black power - the wearers may use them to denote pride in their heritage, or as a distinctive ethnic style, but it is just that. A style.

Or do you think that the WWII vets were terribly happy about the hippies using their Victory sign to symbolize social rebellion against the government?

One in this generation would be surprised that anyone would be upset by this.

In fact, one in this generation would question why so many people supported the “fuck whitey” attitude, which would be looked on as horribly racist these days.

There are a lot of other things to get pissed about. No one is forgetting the civil rights movement, but if all you try to do is force people to live through the blatant racism of the past, you are destroying the progress of the future. I, for one, and glad to live in an America where we can be so open that a black sports star loved by the school can share some of his heritage with them, and not think twice about it. It doesn’t mean that what people in the past suffered through means less - it means that they got what most of them were fighting for. I don’t see why you want to destroy that - and neither, apparently, do the black kids on the campus.

17

I think Shodan had it nailed pretty well. In the black community, there is a small minority of the minority that has a chip on edge on the shoulder, ready to be blown off at the slightest breeze. ANY excuse to get upset will be latched onto with all the vigor of a pit bull. The hypersensitive blacks have no interest in achieving racial harmony, they just want an excuse to get mad.

18

While your observations regarding the black community are interesting and all, Bob, the person with a chip on their shoulder in this case is white.

19

But couldn’t that be why it’s offensive for a white person to wear it? Like an anti-gay activist using a rainbow?

20

Black guys weighing in.

What morons. The players at UNC shaved their heads before the tourney. If the students on their campus had done that would they be skinheads? Either those people protesting want to raise their status or they need to calm down or both.

Go Golden Knights!